Basic Trope: A character created to appeal to kids.
- Straight: In an attempt to appeal to kids, the creators of Action Tropers! add 9-year-old Alex to the mostly young adult cast.
- Exaggerated:
- The creators add half a dozen child characters to make the show more appealing to kids.
- The creators make a Lighter and Softer spinoff about the characters as children.
- Downplayed: Alex is primarily meant to attract kids to the show, but he also has plenty of traits intended to appeal to older viewers.
- Justified: Alex is the younger relative of one of the main characters in the show.
- Inverted: Alex is an adult character in Troper’s Fun! who was added to appeal to older demographics.
- Subverted: And then Alex gets killed off halfway in the story and the show shifts to a more serious tone.
- Double Subverted: ...They are then accompanied by another child, Barry, who makes the show into a sort of middle ground between Lighter and Softer and Darker and Edgier.
- Parodied:
- The creators add Alex, who acts as an obnoxious Tagalong Kid to the rest of the heroes...and then he gets killed off in a comedically over-the-top way at the end of the episode and is never bought up again.
- Alex is a child and/or Ridiculously Cute Critter who seems like the perfect choice for a character that'd appeal to younger viewers, but immediately begins doing some very child-unfriendly things. He still insists that the younger kids in the audience love him, though.
- Zig-Zagged: Alex is repeatedly taken in and out of the cast.
- Averted: None of the characters seem to be specifically targeted to younger viewers.
- Enforced: The executives believe inserting the character is the only way to get viewers. Or god forbid, think it's the best way.
- Lampshaded: "Oh, god, of COURSE he brings the kid on board..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "We shouldn't hire a kid on our team. The work's simply too dangerous."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alex, being a child, has no concept of the danger that the heroes get up to regularly. Of course, when he joins them for a mission, he either becomes a totally useless liability or a witness to or victim of horrible things that would be avoided if he just stayed home.
Back to Kid-Appeal Character.
