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Typically the youngest member of a Five Man Band, the Tagalong Kid is usually the Hero's or the Chick's younger brother. He gets to save the day about once per season, but in the worst case scenarios he'll end up being The Load or Designated Victim in every other episode.
If the kid is an actual teammate instead of just a tag-along, the kid might sub in for just about any role but The Hero, with the proper tropes behind him or her.
See also: Improbable Age, Really Seven Hundred Years Old, The Bumblebee, The Team Normal.
Not to be confused with a child who's just part of an ethnolinguistic group of people of a certain southeast-Asian country.
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Examples
Anime & Manga
- Anime ur-example: Bat from Fist of the North Star, as well as Lin.
- Isidro from Berserk.
- Chibi-usa of Sailor Moon is one of the Bratty Half Pint variety.
- Mokuba Kaiba and Rebecca Hawkins of Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Akira of the Shiseiten in Samurai Deeper Kyo.
- Clare is Teresa's Tagalong Kid in Claymore, and Raki becomes hers.
- Raki gets one himself after the Time Skip, citing Clare's treatment of him as his motivation. Of course his happens to be Priscilla, the single most powerful Awakened Being in existence.
- Jinpei from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. As Jun's adopted brother they grew up in the same orphanage together, and Jun literally required that Jinpei joined her when she accepted Dr. Nambu's offer to join the Science Ninja Team. Thus he serves the role of being the smartass Bratty Half Pint variant of The Smart Guy.
- In Bleach, Zaraki Kenpachi has Kusajishi Yachiru, his vice-captain (and it's hinted that she may be deadlier than him).
- In later arcs, we also have Nel.
- In Yotsubato, Yotsuba is everyone's Tagalong Kid.
- Goku of Saiyuki has the personality and the relationship to the group, but he's actually the closest thing the series has to a genuine hero, and it's his relationship with Sanzo/Konzen that is the impetus of... well, pretty much every thing that happens in the plot? Something like that.
- Scar has Mei-chan in Fullmetal Alchemist.
- Shiro in Ouran High School Host Club.
- Mamoru in Gao Gai Gar, although it's quite necessary that he tag along.
- Max from the Advance seasons of Pokemon.
- Conan Edogawa of Detective Conan was first considered by the Detective Boys as such, but, well... his intelligence could hardly be covered.
- Chiru from Xabungle... by that show's standards.
- Antonio from Romeo X Juliet, though he's quite Genre Savvy and competent as well.
- July in Darker Than Black, first to November 11 and April and, in the second season, to Hei. However, despite the Extreme Doormat attitude, he's actually an important member of the group; as a Doll, he can do reconnaissance without anyone having to actually get in the line of fire.
Films
Literature
- Ponyboy of The Outsiders. He's only considered a "member" of the gang because of his older brothers.
- Lupine Wonse was a literal Tagalong Kid in Guards! Guards! The skipping run he developed to keep up with the big boys in his gang is how Vimes recognizes him as an adult leaving the scene of a crime.
- Allie in Bones Of Faerie
Live Action TV
- River Tam on Firefly, although she has a much bigger role in the movie.
- River is a bit of a subversion, actually. Or did you forget when she shot a bunch of guys, with her eyes shut, saving Kaylee and Serenity?
- This Troper think she was more a development of this. In his opinion, the reason she never showed her power in the earlier episodes was that she didn't know she had it until she had been outside the academy for several months and had time to heal a little bit. Thus it is played straight combined with Took A Level In Badass.
- Justin in Power Rangers Turbo is literally a kid who tagged along and was given Ranger Powers. For reasons that are never adequately explained in the series, he morphs into a fully grown adult blue Ranger, unless he takes off his helmet, which shrinks him down to his normal size until he puts it back on.
- Robin's younger brother Much from Robin Of Sherwood.
- Debatably Kate from Robin Hood. Her age was unclear, yet the thirty-year old actress seemed to be channelling a bratty teenage girl.
Video Games
- Vaan in Final Fantasy XII — a bit unusual in that he's the viewpoint character. Also, his eventual role in the group is dependent on how the player develops his skills (though it's easiest to send him along the Fragile Speedster route).
- In The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, winning all Arena matches saddles you with the "Adoring Fan", a small boy who follows you around gushing about your deeds. Due to his catchphrase of "By Azura, By Azura, By Azura!", amoung other things, he's almost universally considered The Scrappy. In fact, it's become popular to take him to high ledges and make him fall to his death, though he (un)fortunately respawns.
- Petey in Bully.
- Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu : You've got two of them in the First Generation : Oifaye, who's the army's Teen Genius Strategist, and Shannan who starts as a James Bondage. Both of them become badasses in the Second Generation.
- Adell's younger siblings, Taro and Hanako, from Disgaea 2 fill this role, while also acting as Those Two Guys for the party. Taro and Hanako double as The Big Guy (gameplay-wise) and The Smart Guy (story-wise), respectively.
- Mission Vao and Zaalbar from Knights of the Old Republic. Mission is more obvious, being Hot Blooded and a Fragile Speedster (her dexterity is very high), with a bit of the "genius" as her true strengths come from being more well-rounded in the skills department than the droids. She's also higher on the Karma Meter than the party's Jedi (tied with Carth, surprisingly). Zaalbar is definitely The Big Guy, who's actually marginally higher on the Karma Meter than Jolee, but still light-sided. He doesn't really appear to be a kid (Wookiees age differently than humans), but his interactions with Mission, and the fact that he's constantly referred to as "young" mean you likely have two adolescents along for the ride.
Web Comics
Western Animation
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