History Main / TagalongKid

Contrast TokenAdult. Compare ImprobableAge, ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, KidAppealCharacter, KidSidekick, TheTeamNormal, TheTeamWannabe, TokenMiniMoe.

TeamPet is the animal equivalent to this, RobotBuddy the artificial version.

* TheHeart -- ChildrenAreInnocent. A CheerfulChild can operate as the team's moral compass and emotional center. At worst, they serve as the [[DesignatedVictim designated kidnap victim]] whom everyone will [[EveryonesBabySister be fiercely protective of]]. Might be the least likely Team Kid to be the BrattyHalfPint, though it does happen.

** Older kids may instead be a HotBlooded teenager. They will still be the most [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic]] one on the team, but their combat ability tends to be a KidSamurai or a YoungGun.
* TheSmartGuy -- TeenGenius, or maybe [[ImprobableAge preteen]]. The BrattyHalfPint can also fill the "smartass" variation of this role.
* TheBigGuy -- Stronger than they first appear, the kid is a CuteBruiser and a PintSizedPowerhouse capable of benchpressing ten adult men.
* TheFace -- Younger and less mature but possessing [[WiseBeyondTheirYears certain]] [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes insights]] their older companions lack.

* TheBigGuy -- Stronger than they first appear, the kid is a CuteBruiser and a PintSizedPowerHouse capable of benchpressing ten adult men.

* Allie in ''Literature/BonesOfFaerie''.
* "Runt" in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' is the little brother to Zane's host. Zane [[RefusalOfTheCall refuses to leave the herd]] at first until he's kicked out to fetch Runt. Then he encounters the other formerly human characters, and he can't leave the little guy alone, so...

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' Ward treats his sister Ciarra as tagalong kid, even though she's just three years younger than he is. (She's sixteen, which would make her an adult in many cultures.) She is mute, which may contribute to this. Of course, she's technically the only kid who tags along; Ward is on the run from the authorities, the proper adults in the group are his father's valet and the stable master, who just accompany him out of loyalty, and a runaway slave who has her own reasons for running away.
* As Locke’s mentee, Bug in ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' is 12 years old, a good 15 years younger than the rest of Locke’s gang. He’s more impulsive and crude than the rest of the gang, as he’s a child who’s working to prove himself. [[spoiler:Sadly, his fate is a very realistic outcome of this trope. Getting a child involved in dangerous situations is generally more dangerous for a child than an adult, because children are less equipped (less experience, less physical strength in a fight, less maturity, etc) to handle it. And now, Locke has to live with the fact that he put a child in a situation that killed him. Although, in Locke’s defense, if he hadn’t taken in Bug, Bug’s [[StreetUrchin life]] [[CrapsackWorld probably]] would’ve turned out similarly.]]
* [[spoiler:Lupine Wonse]] is a literal Tagalong Kid in ''Literature/GuardsGuards''; he was TheSmartGuy in their street gang mostly to stop them beating him when they got bored. 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.
* [[PluckyComicRelief Gavroche]] in ''Literature/LesMiserables'' is this to the students at the barricade, though unlike most Tagalong Kids, he is a core part of the group, and an invaluable asset from the start. There is also some Deconstruction at work, as several of the rebels are reluctant and uncomfortable with having a comrade-in-arms who hasn't reached puberty. [[spoiler: He is killed collecting bullets, DefiantToTheEnd.]]
* Merry and Pippin fill this role in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', both being younger cousins of Frodo. They are not ''children'', but they're considered very young adults (hobbits are considered to be mature and responsible only when they hit their thirties). They fulfill this role in ''Fellowship'', tacking themselves onto the quest to support Frodo but without standing out too often. In ''The Two Towers'' they break out of it. Then in ''Return of the King'' they both feel like this and TheLoad to Rohan (for Merry) and Gondor (for Pippin), but take actions that end up being very important.
* In ''Literature/{{Metaltown}}'', Chip is one of the youngest Metaltown citizens and tags along with Ty frequently; while reticent at first, she eventually warms up to him. Ty trying to save him from a potentially life-threatening job [[spoiler:ends up with her going blind in one eye]].
* Murky of [[Literature/OrigamiYoda the Origami Yoda series]] is this. He mostly just hangs around with his older friends and makes comments.
* Ponyboy of ''Literature/TheOutsiders''. He's only considered a "member" of the gang because of his older brothers.
* In ''Literature/RachelGriffin'', the PowerTrio is by the second book officially comprised of ''four'' members, with the addition of [[TheKirk Nastasia's]] {{fangirl}} Joy O'Keefe, who insists on coming and can't [[StayInTheKitchen politely]] be excluded.
* Jimmy the Hand is this in ''Silverthorn'' and ''A Darkness at Sethanon'', the second and third books of ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle''. Prince Arutha tries to leave him behind in Krondor rather than expose him to the extreme danger that Arutha is going into. Needless to say, the best boy thief in Krondor doesn't take well to having someone try to keep him out of trouble for his own safety.
* Adam's younger brother James in ''Literature/ShatterMe'' who he and Juliette have no choice but to take on the run with them to stop Warner from harming him.
* Tailchaser from ''Literature/TailchasersSong'' intended to go on his journey alone. Early on he noticed that Pouncequick, an orphaned kitten peer of his, was following him. Tailchaser didn't have the nerve to send the kitten back through the dangerous forest all alone, so he let Pouncequick tag along. Tailchaser soon finds that he prefers having company on his task. Pouncequick is TheHeart[=/=]CheerfulChild variety.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', this happens occasionally.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Spike the baby dragon serves as assistant and de facto little brother to Twilight Sparkle, and frequently comes along on the ponies' adventures. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that the ponies rarely bring up his age and he's shown to be just as capable as the adult ponies, except for one instance in which he had to miss out on an adventure because he was too young to stay up all night.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E4Vindicators3TheReturnOfWorldender Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender]]", Morty is excited to be part of what he assumed to be a second assembly of the eponymous SuperTeam (having already participated in their first one), only to learn that this is actually the third time they've banded together -- they didn't summon Rick and Morty for the second adventure because Alan Rails couldn't tolerate Rick, who serves as the team's GadgeteerGenius. As the adventure continues, Morty starts to lose his enthusiasm for the Vindicators, especially when Vance Maximus admits they merely let Morty hang around for publicity purposes. By the end of the episode, Morty considers the Vindicators unneeded and gives away the Vindicators jacket Vance gave him.

** In "Launch", this gets inverted: Entrapta, a woman of 25- to 35-years-old who is also the shortest of the Princesses alongside the aforementioned 12-year-old Frosta, is the one who has to be kept on a child leash by the other Princesses lest she wander off into danger.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' is an odd example where this character is the protagonist -- it centers around a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-magical]] [[KidSidekick kid]] who lives with the Crystal Gems, a team of magical guardians whom his mother used to be a part of. He actually holds a great deal of fear that he'll never become powerful enough to be ''anything'' but this trope, and forever live in his mother's shadow. By the end of the first season, however, he's matured into TheHeart.

** Part 2's is Smokey Brown, a kid whom Joseph rescues from a pair of {{Dirty Cop}}s who try to blackmail him into giving them part of the money he steals..

* As Locke’s mentee, Bug in ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' is 12 years old, a good 15 years younger than the rest of Locke’s gang. He’s more impulsive and crude than the rest of the gang, as he’s a child who’s working to prove himself. [[spoiler:Sadly, his fate is a very [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome realistic outcome]] of this trope. Getting a child involved in dangerous situations is generally more dangerous for a child than an adult, because children are less equipped (less experience, less physical strength in a fight, less maturity, etc) to handle it. And now, Locke has to live with the fact that he put a child in a situation that killed him. Although, in Locke’s defense, if he hadn’t taken in Bug, Bug’s [[StreetUrchin life]] [[CrapsackWorld probably]] would’ve turned out similarly.]]

* Alexis Castle on ''Series/{{Castle}}''. She also doubles as TheSmartGuy[=/=] TeenGenius and provides lots and lots of helpful insight to her ManChild father. And when she shows up at the police station, everyone minds their language.

* The Thunderkittens in ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1987'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011''. They do have some useful skills.

Blake: Please tell me we're not going to have to babysit some genocidal mini-Saphron.
Jaune: I mean, I'm going to have to babysit. You're just going to have to put up with her.

* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': Though at 69 Abe is only a kid in comparison to his immortal father, Henry's son Abraham sometimes sticks his nose where it doesn't belong.

* Max from the ''Advance'' seasons of ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}''.
** Team Rocket got a Tagalong Kid in the Sinnoh Arc, in the form of James' Mime Jr.
** Bonnie in the Kalos arc.

* [[CloudcuckooLander Edward]] is this in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', as nobody actually intended for her to join the crew after she helped them out once. She also fills the role of [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Guy]].

* ''Literature/TheFourGospels'': John the Apostle was [[DownplayedTrope likely]] the tagalong kid among Jesus' disciples. Apart from being "significantly younger" than his brother James (and the rest of the Twelve), it's unclear just how old John was at the point where he JumpedAtTheCall. Furthermore "the disciple whom He loved" (as John later refers to himself when writing his gospel) in context might well mean parental love for a HappilyAdopted son. And in a DyingMomentOfAwesome Jesus also instructs His mother Mary to [[TakeCareOfTheKids take care]] of John as if he were ''her'' son. John later cares for Mary as if she were his mother, too.

* ''Literature/TheFourGospels'': John the Apostle was [[DownplayedTrope likely]] the tagalong kid among Jesus' disciples. Apart from being "significantly younger" than his brother James (and the rest of the Twelve), it's unclear just how old John was at the point where he JumpedAtTheCall. Furthermore "the disciple whom He loved" (as John later refers to himself when writing his gospel) in context might well mean parental love for a HappilyAdopted son, and [[DyingMomentOfAwesome while being tortured to death]] Jesus also instructs his mother Mary to [[TakeCareOfTheKids take care]] of John as if he were ''her'' son.

* ''Literature/TheFourGospels'': John the Apostle was [[DownplayedTrope likely]] the tagalong kid among Jesus' disciples. Apart from being "significantly younger" than his brother James (and the rest of the Twelve), it's unclear just how old John was at the point where he JumpedAtTheCall. Furthermore "the disciple whom He loved" (as John later refers to himself when writing his gospel) in context might well mean parental love for a HappilyAdopted son, and [[DyingMomentOfAwesome while being tortured to death]] Jesus also instructs his mother Mary to [[TakeCarOfTheKids take care]] of John as if he were ''her'' son.

* Wendy of ''Manga/FairyTail'' started to become this to series' resident FiveManBand Team Natsu shortly after joining Fairy Tail, and while she is a de facto member now, considered equal with the others in-universe, she is still largely a Tagalong Kid to the readers. She has since graduated to being the GirlyGirl, sharing this role with Lucy, who also spends time as TheChick.