History Main / TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior

* B.B. Hood, the current poster child of TheFakeCutie from ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'', carries a hamper full of goodies that are actually missiles and flamethrowers, and almost all her gun-based attacks are accompanied by a SlasherSmile even in her sprite. In one of her victory poses she also takes out a cigar while flicking through her killing contracts.

** The Warriors all exhibit such troubling behaviors, as a result of being raised as ChildSoldiers. [[spoiler:Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie were respectively 12 and 11 years old when they destroyed Wall Maria, slaughtering thousands in the process. This turns out to have been ''at least'' the second time they'd participated in mass murder, having previously been used to conquer a rival nation as a ''test run'' for the Paradis Operation.]] By the time of the battle of Trost, all of them are seasoned killers only just beginning to comprehend the magnitude of the things they've been doing since childhood.

** Gabi, a 12-year-old girl who is [[spoiler:Reiner's cousin and also a ChildSoldier]], has no problems with killing anyone she sees as an enemy (in a similar vein to Eren), and is arguably brainwashed by the military to the point where she's [[spoiler:the in-universe equivalent of a Holocaust denier (in her words, she didn't see the attack on the walls happen, so, therefore, those living in the walls didn't ''actually'' suffer)]]. She's also willing to sacrifice herself on the battlefield and at one point [[spoiler:cheerfully makes a hand grenade before [[ISurrenderSuckers pretending to surrender to the enemy]] (which involves taking off her military uniform)]].

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation''. In his past life, Rudeus Greyrat used to be an {{Otaku}} in his 30s when he died, only to ReincarnateInAnotherWorld. In spite of being an infant, his mind -- and thus his predilections from watching anime and porn -- carried over from his previous life. As an infant, he is seen stalking women such as his maid Lillia, [[PantyThief stealing and playing around with panties]], and making unnaturally perverted and sexual expressions. However, to anyone InUniverse who does notice it (such as Lillia and her daughter[[spoiler:/Rudeus's half-sister]] Aisha), it comes off as a straight example as they are not aware he is mentally a 34-year old man in a child's body.

** Green (known as Blue in Japan, not to be confused with the character Blue Oak who is known as Green in Japan) is introduced flirting with and scamming (an albeit similarly aged) Red with bootleg stat boost items, makes flirty comments towards adults, steals and pickpockets regularly, and her idea of a stealthy place to hide Pokéballs is her chest (before which she taunts Sabrina with how her chest looks bigger than hers despite her younger age). She seems to basically think she's [[Anime/LupinIII Fujiko]] or some other such typical anime FemmeFatale of the era, and talks and acts like such... [[FilleFatale At 11 years old.]] While her age, this being Manga/PokemonAdventures, is rarely brought up, this behavior may be related to the fact she was [[spoiler:kidnapped and traumatized at a very early age and raised as a TykeBomb, forming a close bond with and becoming like an [[BigBrotherInstinct older sister]] to young fellow TykeBomb Silver, himself an incredibly precocious kid, with the two later escaping and having to fend for each other and later on their own, all this going down before she was 11 and Silver was 8; [[FridgeHorror Arceus knows where or why she has acquired this behavior, or how long she's been like this]].]] Fortunately, she has toned down her sexual behavior by the time she becomes a main character again at 16 in the FRLG arc.

* Damian Wayne in ''Comicbook/BatmanGrantMorrison''. He's a ten-year-old who is firmly convinced that he's the natural successor to [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} his father]]'s legacy and [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] is an idiot. In addition to being a particularly grim (and potentially deadly) ComicBook/{{Robin}}, he is frighteningly efficient at running Wayne Enterprises.
** Several characters have acknowledged that it's a bad thing. Bruce originally didn't let him out in the field, and he only became Robin under Dick. Dick got him to act a little more normal though Dick's extreme own personal combo of experience, patience, and just being a good person. [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]], after learning Damian had never really played in his life, pretty much forced him onto a moon-bounce with her (though she admitted she was pretty sure he wasn't joking about stabbing her several times during her run) and usually ignored him when he got bratty. Damian acted a little more like a kid around Colin Wilkes (probably to put Colin, who was the same age, more at ease), but it was a major change from his original characterization. [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim]] and many other people still found him very unnerving even by the time of the reboot, though. In Tim's case that makes sense as Damian came very close to murdering him when they first met, and he for all intents and purposes stole the Robin identity from him (not helped by the fact Dick ''allowed'' Damian to become Robin without ever asking Tim). It isn't helped by how frequently Damian slides back into a vestige of the obnoxious brat he was when he first appeared, as he seems to be perpetually re-learning how to not be a vicious, manipulative little creep.

* ComicBook/{{X 23}}'s first assassination was at age 9. She was immediately put to work by the Facility afterwards, and by 16 she's an accomplished enough killer to worry ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''. {{Justified| Trope}} since she was bred and raised from birth ''specifically'' to be a LivingWeapon, but her utter ruthlessness and cold detachment make her an even better killer than ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. It's mildly subverted in that she doesn't ''want'' to be a weapon, but it nonetheless comes completely naturally to her. [[Comicbook/{{NYX}} This doesn't even touch on her stint as a 15-year-old prostitute on the streets of New York City.]]

** However, the stand-out example is Maddie [[spoiler: a.k.a. Rachel Grey, Jean's SeparatedAtBirth twin]]. She's 17, and... imagine ComicBook/JeanGrey with the personality halfway between ComicBook/{{X23}} and [[Characters/MCUBuckyBarnes the Winter Soldier]], minus a positive parental influence, or ''any'' positive influence at all, until she met Gambit, who's still figuring out his own moral compass. She was raised by ''Sinister'', who not only gave her a purposefully skewed moral education (MindRape? Perfectly normal, go ahead), but taught her to believe that she was simply a mixture of genetic experiment and bodyguard/enforcer/hunting hound. As a result, she's the perfect weapon, an expert psychic, and has absolutely no idea how to be anything else - or, initially, understand why she should want to be. Her most human trait is her [[CuriosityCausesConversion curiosity]]. She gets better, with time, but she's still seen as somewhat odd at best.

* EverybodySmokes in ''Film/StandByMe'', especially the twelve-year-olds. Even by TheFifties standards that's quite young.

* Almost the entirety of the movie ''Film/Thirteen2003'' is this trope, including sexual precociousness, drug use, and stealing. It's also VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of co-writer Creator/NikkiReed.

* Pretty much all the kids from ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagic'', but special mention goes out to Queen Cinder, who not only enjoys torturing and executing her subjects, but has been trained to kill without remorse since she was five. She is now fourteen.

* ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' has a downplayed example in [[TheSociopath John]], whose cold and occasionally violent behavior comes off as even creepier given that he starts the series as fifteen. One of his talks with his therapist reveals a straighter example: [[spoiler:he dissected a ''live gopher''. At the age of seven.]]
* In ''Literature/TheIronKing'', Meghan is shocked to hear her four-year-old half-brother tell her best friend "Go [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] yourself!" Justified in that [[spoiler:the kid is actually a changeling. Her real half-brother is a perfectly normal, sweet kid.]]

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd''. Like the aforementioned [[Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation Rudeus Greyrat]], Arthur Leywin retains the memories and experience of his previous life. Unlike Rudeus, who was a shut-in {{Otaku}}, Arthur used to be King Grey - a monarch who ruled over a world governed by AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and was one of the strongest warriors of that world - and as such is far more intelligent, mature, and experienced than Rudeus was upon beginning the next life. When he is just four years old, he briefly helps his family fend off an ambush, and after being separated from them due to said ambush, kills a few slave traders who had kidnapped an elven girl. He is also noted to be unnaturally worldly and mature for his age by other characters - making remarks and mannerisms more befitting of an old man than that of a childe - and a few individuals are even aware of his past life or are made aware of it throughout the story.

** It's a RunningGag that Bart is [[KidsDrivingCars proficient behind the wheel]], taking his friends on a lengthy road trip after creating a fake ID and eventually managing to obtain a ''legal'' driver's license from the town authorities (all of which is [[LooseCanon potentially]] {{Justified}} by the episode "Barthood," which shows Abe teaching him to steer at a young age). Lisa can also drive in a pinch and Homer's been known to hand the wheel over to either kid without incident. Even Maggie [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E6ItchyAndScratchyTheMovie got startlingly far on her first attempt]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Bart's experiments with adult behavior are typically {{Downplayed}} as he runs up against [[EveryoneHasStandards his own qualms]]; for instance, he, Milhouse and Nelson buy beer with a fake ID but chicken out of actually drinking it. He ''does'' start a moral panic in Springfield when he gets drunk at the St. Patrick's Day parade, but [[NotWhatItLooksLike this happened entirely by accident]] when beer being sprayed from a float got caught in his plastic horn. The seriousness of the BigDamnMovie is aptly demonstrated, though, when having to flee an angry mob and go on the run with his family [[INeedAFreakingDrink causes him to down a bottle of whiskey in frustration]].

** In general, the Imperium's fascistic nature and dependence on training programmes beginning as early as birth make this endemic to the setting, one way or another. Forget the power of peace and understanding, and so on.

* ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': Lalo Cura [[spoiler: kills a gunman sent to kill his boss’s family.]] He's also sharp enough to notice key flaws in the police force’s investigative procedures.
** Hans Reiter is considered strange by his peers as well.

For when kids ''see'' things (or have things happen to them) that they shouldn't instead of ''do'' things they shouldn't, see HarmfulToMinors. A TeenageWasteland runs on this.

* In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, Fanny has already begun fooling around with boys by the time she is ten. It's implied that she may already be sexually active by this age, as she later seduces her adoptive father and has a baby with him when she is no older than fourteen.

* Child prostitute Annie in ''{{Series/Copper}}'' - and that's before [[spoiler:she kills the man who killed and raped, ''in that order'', her twin sister]].

* 10-year-old Max from "WebAnimatio/CampCamp" displays cynical and nihilistic views on the world, and has sometimes said how he wishes to kill himself (whether he's being serious or not.)

* All over the place in ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' and [[VideoGame/Kindergarten2 its sequel]], and it's all played for BlackComedy. The cast consists of a kindergarten class and its staff, but nearly every mission involves killing at least one person, often intentionally, and even the ones that don't will still likely have someone getting hurt either physically or mentally. Just to name a few examples:

* The character of Rivka ben-Divorah in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics of Creator/AAPessimal. Introduced as a girl of perfect doll-like beauty and innocent mien, she grows into one of the most lethal Assassins to graduate from the school. [[note]]She is explicitly described in notes to the stories as looking, at age twelve, like Nathalie Portman's character Mathilde in ''Film/{{Leon}}''[[/note]] As her teachers discovered early, a look of cherubic innocence can be incredibly misleading. Her ability to stand there and look innocent whilst various School Bullies are stretched off to the School Infirmary was considered to be a most effective Assassin strategy, and she was marked down as having great promise.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice Invasion'', Jade's baby laughs at the fighting she and Red Arrow are engaging at an army of {{Mooks}}. Partly because the baby came from a family of supervillains.

This is TruthInTelevision insofar as there are indeed preteens out there who smoke, drink alcohol, have sex with each other, and so on. This is often the result of [[AbusiveParents a neglectful or abusive family]] or by finding out themselves [[ParentalObliviousness without their parents knowing]]. This is also subject to ValuesDissonance, due to differing cultural opinions what's considered appropriate behavior for children and when children "grow up."

** Many centuries ago, a young boy on the planet Calchis grew envious of another boy, a well-respected member of the planet's priest caste. In order to gain the benefits of such, the first boy strangled the second boy to death and stole his name and identity. Thus began the career of Erebus, who would become [[HateSink one of the most hated men in the galaxy in- and out-of-universe]].

** One of the regular, rather young trolls named "Asho" has had a habit of doing this repeatedly, though thankfully not to serial killer levels; this has actually turned him into TheScrappy for a lot of people, even those who hate Ghost. He once called Ghost while high (and slagged off his mother while doing so), and another time called Ghost while drinking illegally and watching porn; the latter incident, he called back ''the very same show, while masturbating''. [[{{Squick}} He claims to be younger than ten.]]

* Do we even need to explain everything about Stewie Griffin from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''? A toddler who goes on rampages to beat up and even kill many adults. Let that sink in for a moment. Aside from his violent tendencies, he is also a DirtyKid who's done things like becoming a masochist who pleads Lois to step on his "cubes" (in "Peter's Two Dads") or having sex with a CPR doll ("The Cleveland Loretta Quagmire").

** Even worse than her is [[spoiler: Cozy Glow, a pegasus filly who enters Twilight's School of Friendship, and then conspires with Lord Tirek to drain Equestria of all it's magic in a plan to take it over, and almost succeeds.]]

** [[RoyalBrat Joffrey Baratheon]] really takes the cake. At the age of six, he cut open a cat to see the unborn kitten fetuses. Later on in the story, he kills peasants from his palace's boarders with his crossbow and tells them to go eat their dead, has people fight to the death, torments his younger brother, and abuses Sansa Stark, all before turning fourteen.
** However the one who might possibly beat Joffrey is the psychopathic knight Ser Gregor Clegane. When he was only 12 years old he pushed his little brother’s head into a fire just because he saw Sandor playing with one of his toys. Who knows what other sick things Gregor did before he became a baby killer and a rapist at only age 16.

* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': In the story's main setting, child labor is the norm and children start their apprenticeships at age seven. This includes HighClassCallGirl type jobs. This results in the story showing no less than two different girls whose age is still in the single digits talking about how they are going to be someone's mistress or concubine later. Myne, who only knows what those positions entail because her mind is that of a modern-day Japanese young adult, is quite disturbed by this.

** Broly is an extreme case, but Saiyan children, in general, are pretty disturbing by human standards. Originally, Kakarot was sent to Earth to ''wipe out all life forms'', until brain trauma made him less aggressive. They may look cute and innocent, but looking is as far as it gets.