Adults Are Useless as seen in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Zigzagged in Adaptations. Grown ups in Beacon Hills don't have a very good track record when it comes to help Stiles with his crumbling life, as they're more interested in treating him as a hopeless nutcase delinquent or outright torture him for his loose affiliation to the supernatural. On the other hand, people from Atlantis are nothing but protective and helpful towards the teen, coming to his rescue several times and cutting him off the toxic influences.
- Discussed in BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant. Ragna calls Ozpin out on him and his staff's uselessness in stopping Team CRDL from bullying their fellow students. Ozpin acknowledges the issue, but also points out that they haven't received any reports of them bullying people either aside from one or two incidents that they were properly reprimanded for, making it clear that the bullies were being very careful to avoid repercussion. After the cafeteria incident, however, Ozpin makes it clear that they will keep a close eye on them, and sure enough, they're never seen bullying anyone after the fact.
- In Christopher Weston Chandler & Magi-chan's Stone, Voldemort attacks Chris at school and fails, killing Voldemort. Not only is school not immediately called off, all Bob hears about it is when Chris says he was bullied worse than usual at dinner the next night.
- In Code: Half Demon, this trope is currently in full swing of this trope. It is a crossover with Code Lyoko so this is expected.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: The majority of the adults around Chloe prove largely incapable of helping her deal with her problems, leading to her getting picked up by the Train:
- Her father is largely oblivious to her struggles, save for how she's been bullied by her classmates — something he tried to solve by making her work at his lab after school. Naturally, she interprets this as a punishment, and further proof that he only cares about her when Pokémon are involved... something that isn't helped by how he only seems to notice her at such times.
- Her mother is more aware of her troubles, but isn't sure about the best way to reach out and approach her daughter, as she doesn't know what sort of interests she has. (Mostly because Chloe has felt it necessary to hide her interests for fear of being bullied further or forced to give them up.)
- Renji and Chryssa, Cerise's lab assistants, both picked up on the fact that Chloe was troubled. However, neither chose to press the issue or bring it up with her father. (Ironically, Chloe was suspicious of their efforts to reach out to her because she presumed that anything they learned about her would be reported to the Professor.)
- Her homeroom teacher, Miss April, zig-zags the trope: while she was aware of the bullying and tried curtailing it, her efforts weren't very effective. She also horribly misread their efforts to talk to her about Pokémon as a good thing; in her eyes, they were trying to include Chloe more in conversations. In reality, they were mocking her belief that Pokémon mattered more to her father than she did.
- Mr. Parker, her Home Economics teacher, punished Chloe for following his recipes precisely and to-the-letter, deciding that he wanted to see her branch out more and get more creative... without ever instructing her thusly.
- Averted by Mr. Bradbury, the only teacher Chloe trusted at school. He looked out for her, encouraging her to pursue her efforts, and was the only teacher who seriously punished her classmates for acting out, warning them that their actions had consequences.
- Act 2 folds this into its brutal dismantling of Betrayal and Accusation Fics: because this has been so prevalent, Parker finds it hard to trust that the adults will stick to their word and keep working to improve things. This sparks disaster when he thinks that Chloe's bullies are being let off too lightly — especially since Sara is openly unapologetic and continues being awful right in front of the adults who are meant to be enforcing her punishment, convincing him that he needs to take matters into his own hands.
- In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, Kyon's parents are like this. Other adults are, fortunately, far more useful.
- The Lone Traveler plays with this trope in every which way except conversed.
- The Many Dates of Danny Fenton: Katie's parents are helpless to stop her transformations; later Subverted as they are trying to help her get control of her powers.
- This gets Played for Laughs during a scene in Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!. While clearing out the game stalls at the U.A. Culture Festival, Izuku accidentally butts heads with Kendo Rappa, a hulking man with a Super-Strength Quirk. Izuku glances over to his parents for a way out of this situation, but Inko is too frightened to do anything. Hisashi is the opposite, shrugging at his son with full confidence that he'll emerge unscathed thanks to Izuku winning the Superpower Lottery.
- Raise Yourselves Up (We're Done): At the start of the school year, Miss Caline Bustier informs Marinette and Chloé that they won't be accompanying their peers on the annual class trip, as Lila, Alya and the rest don't want them involved. She then proceeds to sit on her hands and leave everything involved with organizing said trip to Alya and the other students, neglecting her own responsibilities entirely to the point that she doesn't get permission from the school board for the trip, along with ignoring the matter of getting passports and other official paperwork ready. By the time Chloé asks some pointed questions about their lack of preparation, it's far too late to get everything squared away in time. Yet despite all of this, Bustier suggests that her class could simply tag along with Marinette and Chloé on their trip, leeching off all of their hard work while completely ignoring the glaring matter of that pesky unfinished paperwork.
- While Beacon's teaching staff in Remnant's Bizarre Adventure are helpful in teaching their students combat, Jotaro finds them incompetent when it comes to giving students advice outside of fighting. Hence him stepping in to help Blake deal with her obsession with redeeming herself from her White Fang past.
- Rise of the Dragon Child zigzags with the trope: if people on Earth completely let Harry down when he needed support as a child and as their Chosen One, people on Tamriel do their best to help the teen with dangerous situations or to have a good life.
- In With Pearl and Ruby Glowing it depends on the adults and the circumstances around them. A stand-out case is probably when it takes Zim trying to stab Dib in the head in front of a teacher before anyone notices there's a problem.
- The Dragon King's Temple plays with the trope: SG-1 does its best to protect and help Zuko and Toph, but Poor Communication Kills hits them hard and they only manage to make Zuko sicker until Toph decides to put her foot down.
- Jet certainly feels this way in Foxfire:Jet: Adults are all the same. They talk, and plan, and act without asking the opinion of anyone actually involved in the situation. In this case: us. They just ignore us or treat us like we're not there.
- In Towards the Sun, the Gaang are the ones playing ambassador for the other nations at the peace talks, and they and Fire Lord Zuko have to be responsible for negotiating a peace treaty and undoing a century of war. This is not for a lack of skill or good intentions on some of the adults' part, but because, as Sokka so eloquently puts it in Chapter 15, " 'willing' and 'capable' were alarmingly mutually exclusive at the national leadership level. Which, you know. Explained why a band of literal children had to end the war."
- In Swinging Pendulum the instructors at Shin'hou Academy never help Asuka with her coursework and ignore her when she's bullied. Her cousin, Kyouraku Shinsui tried to intervene, but it gave the impression that Asuka was coasting on her family name.
- The counselors in Calvin at Camp let the kids get away with anything, aside from actually leaving.
- From Swing123 and garfieldodie's Calvinverse fics:
- The former author's Calvin and Hobbes III: Double Trouble has an author's note that lampshades this:No, The town won't save Calvin. They'll be worthless. Worthless to the end.
- The latter author's Attack of the Teacher Creature does the same in a narrative aside.They really are idiots, aren't they?
- Adults in Calvin & Hobbes: The Series are, at the very least, very unobservant.
- The former author's Calvin and Hobbes III: Double Trouble has an author's note that lampshades this:
- Demonstrated by the school faculty in Shadow of the Dragon. Said faculty repeatedly refuses to take Satome's bullying seriously even when he threatens Sakura and her friends with rape, which leads to multiple rape victims. It takes his Attempted Rape of Tomoyo, which is only stopped by Sakura's Big Damn Heroes moment and Satome's subsequent arrest, that they finally take him seriously.
- Danganronpa The PARALLEL downplays this; while it's clear that Kyosuke and Koichi can't do anything about Monokuma, they still attempt to maintain order and protect the students as best they can.
- Played With in Resurrected Memories: While the adults in Ember's past qualify, as her parents and teachers were completely ignorant to how she was being severely bullied at school, it's averted in the present. Most of the modern adults are shown to be kind-hearted individuals much better at their jobs, such as Mr. Lancer doing what he can to make Danny's life easier and Mrs. Murray, who is shown to enjoy her job as a teacher, is a great mother to her two daughters and a loving sister once the two figure out each other's identities.
- In Alexandra Quick, this is zig-zagged. The adults do attempt to help, but many refuse to believe Alex when she warns them or tells them what's happening, and often she ends up taking action because she can't see any sign that the adults aren't being useless.
- This becomes Played for Drama in Divided and Entwined. The fact that none of the Hogwarts teachers can stop the persecution of the Muggleborns, or in some cases are actively participating in it, it was drives Harmonie to become a rebel leader.
- A major topic of discussion in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, with Harry frequently telling others how adults who do not treat him as an equal are obstacles to be dodged or manipulated (including those very adults).
- The adults in Oh God, Not Again! are more useless than usual, but mainly because, unlike Harry, they don't have knowledge from the future, so you can hardly blame them for being behind. Harry does sometimes get them involved on purpose when they can help, such as going straight to Dumbledore when Hagrid gets Norbert.
- In Hey Arnold: the Furnace, Grandpa Phil was under the assumption that his grandson was playing a game with his friends, unfortunately not realizing that his grandson's life was in danger, and that it would be the last time he'd see him alive.
- One More Time, One More Chance plays this straight for the most part. With the exception of Rei and Satsuki (and any adults associated with them), the staff at the orphanage and Ryuuko's school do practically nothing to protect her from bullies and, in the latter case, especially, they bully her, too. Likewise, said orphanage also adopted or sent her out to crap homes. Satsuki is really not amused with this trope.
- For His Own Sake:
- Largely averted; unlike canon, the girls of the Hinata Inn find themselves facing realistic reactions and responses to their behavior. In the case of Keitaro's parents, their former uselessness is shown to be due to not knowing enough about what was going on.
- Played straight with Seta, who's unable to reign in his daughter's bad behavior. Ultimately, he's forced to send her Off to Boarding School, where the headmistress berates him for being so incapable of dealing with Sarah that he's shoving the responsibility of correcting her attitude off on them.
- Reversal of Fortune:
- The Loud parents who, like their daughters, chose to put following their own superstitions ahead of their own son's feelings. As of chapter 15, they've made no effort to realize their wrongdoing.
- Averted with the co-conspirator parents who are portrayed as caring yet firm with the resourcefulness to deal with certain situations.
- BURN THE WITCH both Downplays and Plays With this. When Marinette sees that Lila is wearing some of her clothes, she's not surprised to learn that she briefly hid out in the bakery, musing to herself that her parents haven't always been the most supportive or reliable. Still, the notion that they let the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing into her room and let her root through her stuff annoys her. Ironically, they didn't allow that; while they were allowing Lila to rest at the bakery, she immediately betrayed their trust by breaking into their daughter's bedroom, much to their fury.
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence:
- Marinette's parents, Cole's mother and her grandfather all avert this, proving to be willing to listen to their children and support them as best they can.
- Played painfully straight by Ms. Bustier, whose tendency to force victims to apologize to their bullies blossoms into overt favoritism here, to the point that she reacts with horror to a victim defending themselves from somebody trying to gouge out their eye. This gets her suspended from her job.
- Zig-Zagged by Principal Damocles. While dismissed as an easily manipulated pushover, he is clearly horrified by Ms. Bustier's flagrant favoritism and suspends her for it, pending an investigation. However, Cole's mother suspects that he only acted out of the hope of defending himself from the inevitable fallout.
- Feralnette AU:
- Most of the students at Francoise Dupont have no faith in Principal Damocles or any of the teachers to actually do anything about their school attracting so many akumas, forcing them to take matters into their own hands.
- In order to help him understand just how useless the school staff are, Marinette explains to Felix how she was once wrongfully expelled thanks to Lila's Malicious Slander. Not only did they refuse to let her clear her name, Lila managed to weasel out of any consequences even after admitting she'd lied, simply by claiming to have a 'lying disease'. The whole ordeal drove home that she absolutely couldn't count on any of the adults in her life for help... including her own parents.
- Ironically, both Ms. Mendeleiev and Principal Damocles prove to be Spanners in the Works for Lila's plans during the Birds of a Feather arc, with the latter zig-zagging this trope: he plays a Reasonable Authority Figure for once by hearing out Marinette's side of the story and not letting Lila control the narrative, but is also influenced by the fact that Chloé told him that Marinette is tutoring her and outright refuses to let her be expelled, making clear that she'll bring her father's wrath down on the school if he crosses her.
- Played for Drama in the same arc when Sabine realizes that Marinette no longer trusts her or Tom to stand by or support her in her time of need. Not after how poorly they handled her wrongful expulsion.
- Weaponized in the high road. Marinette is well aware that Ms. Bustier is a Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher who gives bullies a free pass while expecting their victims to 'lead by example' and Turn the Other Cheek. She exploits this in her plan to beat Lila at her own game, by going well out of the way to accommodate her every lie... while forcing the rest of the class to do the same. Ms. Bustier's cluelessness makes her a perfect Unwitting Pawn for both girls, and her inaction means that the class has to take matters into their own hands in order for anything to change.
- I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors: As tensions rise in her classroom over Max Pulling the Thread and working to expose Lila, Ms. Bustier abruptly grabs a bathroom pass and leaves the room. She's dismayed to learn that the conflict didn't magically resolve itself before she returned, and when she learns that everyone's upset over Lila playing them all for fools, decides against punishing her. Why? Because Lila had left the room before she returned, and Ms. Bustier simply can't be bothered with trying to track her down. Instead, she cheerfully encourages her students to move on and focus on their lessons, much to their disgust.
- She also expects Marinette to step up and take charge like Bustier herself refuses to do. When Marinette reminds her classmates that she repeatedly warned them about Lila, Bustier is left wondering about this "new approach" her model student is taking. She only attempts to intervene after Marinette makes clear she won't accept any of their hollow apologies, only to let herself be shut down after one retort and reassure herself that the whole drama will blow over soon enough without her needing to do anything more.
- In LadyBugOut, Miss Bustier is this in regards to the interpersonal issues in her classroom.
- She has allowed Chloé to get away with her bullying for years, expecting her better behaved students to 'set a good example' by turning the other cheek. When her class is divided over Alya's use of the Ladyblog and Ladybug starting her own blog in response, she stays out of it... and does nothing when Alya drops her duties as Class Deputy, hoping that dealing with the burden of being Class Rep without her will force Marinette to make up with her without her having to lift a finger.
- Worse yet, when Bustier does finally decide to intervene, she asks Marinette to delete the LadyBugOut blog behind Ladybug's back (unaware that Marinette IS Ladybug). Why? Because despite how the blog is being used to spread self-defense tips and counter Hawkmoth's operations, Miss Bustier only cares about the fact that it's led to tension in her classroom, and hopes that its deletion would reset things back to normal. And when Marinette calls her out on it, she declares that she's disappointed in her student and is about to revoke her position as Class Rep before the rest of her outraged students intervene.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral): In Chloé's Lament, this is largely Averted in the new reality, as the majority of the adults are more engaged. Played With in Bustier's case; at first, she still made excuses for Chloé and refused to punish her, pressuring Marinette to "lead by example". However, the fact that other adults were unwilling to turn a blind eye ultimately forced Bustier to step up as well, putting her job on the line and forcing her to actually deal with Chloé's misbehavior.
- Le Papillon Rising has Gabriel, who might not be useless, but is bad at parenting. Gabriel somehow doesn't notice that he's been neglecting his traumatized son so much that the kid's gone completely insane, even though Adrien is doing very little to hide it. Oh, but he's a great "Dad" to Ladybug, who he's protective of and tries many times to convince not to date Papillon... oh, the irony.
- Leave for Mendeleiev: Ms. Mendeleiev averts this, while Miss Bustier plays it straight. Chloé is so used to getting her way in Miss Bustier's class that she waltzes right into Mendeleiev's and starts harassing Marinette right in front of her, expecting her to turn a blind eye to her behavior as well. This leads to her No-Selling Chloé's attempt to intimidate her:Chloé: Do you know who I am?
Mendeleiev: Do you know who I am? I am the meanest teacher in this school, and if I find you disrupting my class again, I'm going to see to it that you get suspended. Now, out! - Marinette's Week Off: Miss Bustier's students are used to her playing this dead straight: the Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher thrives on letting misbehavior go unchallenged in favor of Blaming the Victims and pressuring them to "lead by example". In Marinette's Life (After the Week Off), however, this is Averted thanks to Collège Françoise Dupont adding "student aides" who actually enforce the school's rules; since she's constantly being supervised, Bustier is effectively forced to step up and do her job. Much to Alya's surprise when Bustier snaps at her to stop pestering Marinette and respect her boundaries, on pain of being slapped with a detention.
- Miraculous Ladybug Salt-Shots applies this on a case-by-case basis:
- Miss Bustier not only plays this straight, several one-shots in the collection paint her as worse than useless. Nothing Comes For Free and "Being A Good Example Isn't So Easy, Is It?" assert that she shunts many of her duties as a teacher onto Marinette; in the latter, it's explictly established that she's outright incapable of managing her class without her, as she's accustomed to letting Marinette wrangle her students.
- When Adrien's classmates are calling him out on his Betrayal by Inaction in The "High Road" Doesn't Work On Everyone, Alix states that he could have informed a teacher about what Lila was doing. Another student remarks that "Definitely not ours, though, she wouldn't do anything."
- Sabine and Tom fully avert this in Nothing Comes For Free. Upon learning how Bustier has been taking advantage of their daughter, they immediately drag the teacher and everyone who enabled her into court, getting Bustier and Principal Damocles fired and forcing Mayor André to step down.
- Spots of Change also averts this with Anatis; Marinette specifically sought out an adult she could trust to take up the Ladybug Earrings in her stead. Anatis swiftly makes clear that she will not tolerate Chat Noir whining like a Spoiled Brat over not getting to find out who "his lady" was or have any more access to the girl he harassed into retiring, and calls out Alya for being an entitled, ungrateful Paparazzi as well.
- Exaggerated in Miraculous: The Phoenix Rises. With the exception of Marvin, virtually every adult in the story is apathetic, cruel, moronic, and less mature than our main characters.
- Long Con has this depend upon the adults in question. Ms. Bustier is noted to be worse than useless; not only does she refuse to punish her "problem students", she actively pressures their victims to forgive their bullies while said bullies get off scot-free. When the rest of the class confronts Lila for being a Manipulative Bitch, Lila outright gloats that they all know Ms. Bustier won't do a thing about her. On the other hand, her Karma Houdini Warranty runs out when her classmates tell their parents about what's going on, with word swiftly reaching Ms. Rossi.
- In The One to Make It Stay, this naturally depends upon the adult in question:
- Ms. Bustier plays it straight, with Rose realizing that they can't rely upon their teacher to help with the Lila situation after reflecting upon her past track record with handling Chloé and other conflicts. In direct contrast with her, Ms. Mendeleiev refuses to entertain Lila's antics, which convinces Marinette, Juleka, Rose and Ivan to request a transfer into her class instead.
- Master Fu shows himself to be a Reasonable Authority Figure who supports and encourages Marinette, proving to be a valuable confident who actually hears her out and values her opinions.
- Sabine and Tom strive to be Good Parents. However, Sabine openly acknowledges during a conversation with her daughter that they haven't been the most attentive in the past, and are working to become better about that.
- Papa Bear: Averted hard. While this trope is very common in the show itself, here the fic shows what would happen if Marinette's parents took action against Gabriel's manipulation of Adrien. Word of God basically states that they wrote this one-shot out of frustration that the adults in the show never do anything to help their kids (even the Dupain-Chengs).
- Rate This (Trust is Hard to Come By): While Ms. Mendeleiev earned enough of Marinette/Ladybug's trust to have a solid 71, Miss Bustier wound up with one of the lowest scores revealed by Gardener's power: a 3. The only characters who score lower are Alya at 2, Hawkmoth and Mayura at -2 each, and Lila at -51. Bustier's low score stems from her stubborn insistence upon making the victims of bullying "set a good example" for their peers by forcing them to Turn the Other Cheek, letting bullies go unpunished. Despite being fully aware of the whole class harassing Marinette in a Cyberbullying campaign, she saw no reason to intervene, only balking upon hearing that her poor teaching methods are being exposed to the school board — and even then, she refuses to acknowledge that her inaction might have been a mistake.
- Scarlet Lady:
- Zigzagged in "Lady Wifi". On one hand, Principal Damocles is easily cowed by Chloé's threats to get her father involved and suspends Alya for a full week for opening Marinette's locker with the combination her friend had given her, all without consulting the supposed victim. On the other hand, when Alya's mother Marlene learns about what happened, she's outraged that her daughter was punished without contacting either of her parents, calling the school to complain and getting the punishment lifted.
- Miss Bustier allows Chloé's bullying to go unchallenged and generally forces the class to cater to their bully instead:
- She forces her students to give Chloé a role in their student film as an understudy, leading to the events of "Horrificator".
- "La Befana" opens with Chloé crying to Mme. Bustier about how the other students are excluding her from a party and their teacher promptly scolding the rest of the class, ordering them to invite her. This is despite the fact that they're discussing Marinette's birthday party, which isn't being held at school.
- When Chloé vandalizes Marinette's gift for Mme. Bustier, the teacher's reaction is to say that she'll treasure it as the work of both Marinette and Chloé and then ask Marinette to forgive the unrepentant Chloé. Marinette gives her a scathing What the Hell, Hero? in response.
- Juleka eventually notes that Mme. Bustier didn't do anything to prevent the class's picture from being taken despite knowing that Juleka was in the bathroom at the time.
- Sabrina reveals that Mme. Bustier found out years ago that the former has been doing all of Chloé's work for her yet refused to step in.
- Largely played straight during "Rogercop": despite their clear disgust with Mayor Bourgeois flagrantly abusing his power, the adults present generally aren't willing to do much to stand up to him directly.
- Roger refuses to illegally search Marinette despite being ordered to by the mayor, which leads to him getting fired (though it's later revealed that Mayor Bourgeois was pulling a Bavarian Fire Drill and doesn't actually have the authority to fire him, something that Roger, as a police officer, should have been aware of).
- While Tom refuses to let Mayor Bourgeois search Marinette's purse, he ultimately proves unhelpful in resolving the situation involving Chloé's missing bracelet. He and the other adults' uselessness is driven home in the aptly named page "Kangaroo Court", in which Tom scolds his daughter
to "let the adults handle this," only for all adults present (Tom included) to stand idly by and do nothing. Marinette is understandably disgusted by this and calls them out on it. - Later in that same episode, Tom's horrified to learn that Chloé dragged his daughter off after the akuma, and berates Alya for not doing anything to try and stop them. Alya simply retorts that he didn't act, either... and in fact, seemingly didn't even notice that his daughter was being hauled off, even though Marinette is later seen fighting every step of the way.
- Zigzagged with Sabine between "Darkblade" and "The Gamer". In the former, she lets Sabrina up into Marinette's room, giving her the chance to steal Marinette's diary. However, when Chloé attempts to con her way into the bakery in the latter episode, Sabine is having none of it, recognizing her as her daughter's long-time bully. It's also implied that she learned from the previous incident and is keen to avoid any repeats.
- Mayor André lets Marinette take charge of the defense efforts against Darkblade, too terrified to act himself.
- "Party Crasher" points out that while Kim, Nino and the other male classmates are the ones who decide to take advantage of Gabriel's absence to throw a party at the Agreste Manor, said party doesn't start getting wild until after adults start showing up and taking advantage of the celebration to invite themselves in.
- In A Small but Stubborn Fire, Sabine is starting to think that the school administration is doing a piss poor job with so many kids have suffered the trauma of the attacks by Hawk Moth and they haven’t informed any of the parents or seem to have done anything to help the students.
- but you gotta get up at least once more: Deconstructed; Because Izuku is so used to adults refusing to do anything about the bullying he faces for being Quirkless, he dismisses his mother's efforts to keep him from seeing Bakugou, not realizing that she's legitimately trying to protect him from the constant abuse he suffers at his hands.
- Crimson and Emerald: Izuku brings up how none of his teachers ever helped him nor intervened to protect him from his bullies. The teachers saw Izuku as a Quirkless kid with no future and didn't even bother.
- In A Sky Of A Million Stars:
- Played straight at Izuku and Katsuki's middle school, Aldera Junior High. The environment is toxic and bullying is rampant. The only member of the faculty to show any genuine concern for the students is the vice-principal; most of the teachers are ineffectual, apathetic, or, in the worst cases, complicit. The principal is more concerned about keeping his hands clean than actually helping his students, and doesn't hesitate to throw a few under the bus to achieve that.
- Refreshingly subverted at U.A., where the teachers are all concerned with the well-beings of their students and desire for them to reach their full potential. In fact, after the USJ incident, a downtrodden Aizawa actually tried to accuse himself of this trope, but an encounter with Izuku reminds him that he did everything he could and it wasn't his fault he had been overpowered like that. If anything, what he did manage to do (take out the bulk of the villains' army of mooks) made things easier for his students when they were forced to face off against Tomura, Kurogiri, and the Noumu.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Bitter Tears: An Anon-A-Miss Fic:
- Downplayed with Principal Celestia and Luna, who initially don't do anything about Anon-A-Miss due to not realizing just how bad the cyberbullying situation is. However, they enforce a proper punishment upon the CMC, and also crack down upon those who bully the CMC afterwards, along with those who submitted secrets to Anon-A-Miss in the first place.
- Enforced with Nurse Redheart. While fully aware that the CMC are being physically bullied, she's in no position to intervene without proof. The girls refuse to admit what's happening to her, and the bullies are being careful to avoid witnesses. Once the CMC confirm to her that they've been assaulted, she immediately reports everything to Celestia, who promptly tracks down and punishes their tormentors.
- Unusually for a story about runaway orphans, this trope is strongly averted in Our True Colors. Here the adults catch on to the true state of affairs quickly and are working behind the scenes to help resolve things.
- The Pieces Lie Where They Fell:
- Played With in much of the story - the protagonists themselves are young adults, but most of the adults in Canterlot who are older than them are unaware of the situation with the Nightmare and, though skilled at their actual jobs, are led to believe the protagonists are the villains. They drop this entirely when Memorizing Gaze finds out the identity of the Nightmare's host and informs Captain General Gentle Step of the truth, at which point the Guards do all they can to help the heroes.
- Utterly averted by the Equestria Girls arc, as Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna are, unlike their canon counterparts, absolutely not oblivious to Sunset's behavior; they just can't act against her without physical proof or personally catching her in the act of breaking the rules (and she's very good at not being seen doing so), and go out of their way to help the Bearers. Also unlike their canon counterparts, they are present during the final battle and, though they aren't very effective, are still part of the group that tries to get the Element of Magic from Sunset.
- Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison has this depend upon the adult:
- Several play this straight due to Sakura being from a civilian family; since she wasn't born into a clan, she's seen as less valuable and more expendable than her peers.
- Her parents avert this; despite being 'mere' civilians, they offer critical advice, guidance and information to their daughter.
- Similarly averted by Iruka, Kurenai and Genma, who serve as Foils to others by virtue of taking Sakura seriously and providing her with support.
- Played painfully straight by Kakashi, who mixes Sink or Swim Mentor with a veneer of Apathetic Teacher — while he does care about his genin team, he's not very good at showing it, taking a largely hands-off approach or using Sakura's successes to motivate the boys by taunting them over being outdone by a girl. He also says nothing against Sasuke's constant insistence that Sakura is nothing more than Cannon Fodder, leaving her to conclude that Kakashi feels the same way and wouldn't bother protecting her in a crisis.
- In Neon Metathesis Evangelion, nearly none of the idiots are helpful to the protagonist kids. Gendo, Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko are merely using them as tools to be exploited. Misato may care about them a bit, but her desire for revenge against the angels is stronger, and in any case she's unable to really show affection. Kaji may sympathize with the pilots a bit, but even as a U.N. inspector he can't do much, and he isn't there for Asuka when she would have needed him. The only adult who has some positive influence on the children is Maya.
Persona Franchise
- Hours 'Verse: Double Subverted. The Shadow Operatives are a group of Kid Heroes All Grown-Up founded to handle meta-space incidents so another generation of Kid Heroes don't have to. However, they frequently find themselves unable to help, whether it be bureaucratic red-tape or loss of access to meta-space blocking their way.
- Penny Saves Paldea: Juliana gets annoyed with Director Clavell's struggling to listen to her advice and inability to be direct about what's bothering him.Juliana groaned. So it seemed, as with generations of children before her, she had to be the one explaining to an adult how to deal with his problems.
- This is a key element of Mewtwo's backstory in Pokémpanions; all of the adults in his life were useless to help him with his bully problem.
- Lampshaded and then averted in Futari Wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon. Dawn/Ogata Kirei/Cure Dawn notes that she's supposed to leave fighting evil to the thirteen-year-old title characters because she's without her powers, but doesn't seem to be very happy about it. Near the end of the series, she becomes an active combatant.
- Shining Pretty Cure. The only adult who even suspects something might be going on is Ren, the friendly owner of the neighbourhood cafe.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: As in canon, Headmaster Mikogami's general response to any threat amounts to "sit on my ass and do nothing while Tsukune's group risks their lives in my place." Best displayed in Act III chapters 40-44; both Kuyou and a Fairy Tale armada invade and attack Yokai Academy one after the other, and instead of trying to stop them, he sits back and watches as Tsukune's group fights them back in his stead.
- White Sheep: Well, their advice is.
- Jaune explains to Yang that his dad always said "All you need is confidence" to attract a woman. Yang then points out that Jaune's mom wasn't drawn in by his dad's confidence, she locked him in her basement and "sexed him into submission." Jaune then agrees with her and starts wondering what the hell his father was thinking.
- When Ruby is faced with the moral dilemma of "take Jaune for my own," or "let Yang have happiness with him," she tries to think of her mother as an inspiration. Then she realizes that her mother made moves on her father pretty much the instant his ex-wife left him, without even waiting, and had Ruby just over two years after the ex left. Ruby quickly starts looking for a different inspiration (for her immediate problem).
- Constantly averted in Sailor Moon: Legends of Lightstorm, where the two main adults are shown to be extremely competent. The escalating threat of the Negaverse leads Luna to take Serena to the titular Lightstorm for training in The Celestial Renegade. Though he has lost his powers, Lightstorm proves intelligent enough to build weapons and other devices infused with "Moon Kingdom science" out of common human materials and technology, such as grapple gauntlets that automatically adjust to whatever surface he latches onto with them. His prowess in combat makes him one of the deadliest characters in the series, and the Sailor Scouts are shown to train under him constantly. The other main adult, Tuxedo Mask, appears to be far stronger than in most other incarnations. His razor roses have been seen to slice through material as tough as Negaverse drone armor, his strength has increased significantly, he constantly gets into the middle of battles to fight back-to-back with Sailor Moon, and his durability is high enough to withstand an exploding subway while shielding another person.
- Defied in The Secret Return of Alex Mack; in canon, Alex spent a lot of time and effort trying to hide her powers from her parents, but here she's told them all about it and their support is invaluable, leading her to wonder why she didn't tell them years ago. When the US military tracks her down and recruits her, their transport and logistics are similarly critical to the level of success she achieves.
- Played straight in Like Pinning Butterflies, where the adults are all too happy to overlook murder, arson and kidnapping for the sake of a quiet life.
- Stephen Ratliff's Marissa Star Trek universe is notorious for this. In order for Marissa's "kids crew" to be great, every adult they come up against has to be a bumbling imbecile. In one episode, the Maquis even invented a drug that knocked out everyone over the age of 15.
- If We Fall Down:
- Both Frisk and Chara were constantly failed by the systems that were meant to protect them. When Carol anonymously tipped off Child Protective Services about the latter being abused, their visit ultimately accomplished nothing, as they accepted the lies Those People told at face value, and never returned for any kind of follow-up.
- In the sequel, this is mitigated by introducing several adults who work with the monsters, particularly Ms. Ashland, a social worker who genuinely tries to help Frisk. It's also revealed that Child Services was more suspicious about Those People than Chara realized, and Chara ran away before they could finish putting their case together.
- Atonement: With few exceptions, the kids drive the story and handle the important things. Main character Madison lampshades it often.
- In Co-op Mode, as this is Worm, this automatically applies. A special example though is the Winslow's gym coach Wolf Shane - due to James being possibly conducive to his own goals, he can be seen as a Reasonable Authority Figure when James and Taylor get into a fight with the Trio and their cronies. However, he ends up as a Double Subversion, as he does not particularly care for his job, being more interested in his own wants than actually being a coach.Coach Shane: I'll be honest here. I don't approve of steroids. But with the girls' track team bringing home medals, Blackwell wants the other teams to earn some trophies. If our football team doesn't start winning games, she's going to make me do weekend training for the guys. And that would cut into my weekend plans. I think I can turn you into a decent running back or a passable lineman, but there's no point if you're going to get disqualified. So. Can you pass a drug test?
- Played for Drama in Taylor Hebert, Medhall Intern. Taylor is so scarred by her lack of help from any authority figures that she doesn't even report her bullies when they steal her stuff, and Tracey has to coax the truth of her situation out of her. To her pleasant surprise, she and the legal staff at Medhall defy this and are willing to give her the help she needs.
- Parodied in Episode 3 of Gag Dub Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series by, of all people, Tristan — "Don't our parents even care that we're missing?"
- Averted in Yu-Gi-Oh! GSTART: All adults seen so far are competent and helpful individuals who take the odd goings-on quite seriously.
