I agree, this trope is in serious need of a renaming.
"Kidroduction" is so poorly conceived a portmanteau that I don't even think it qualifies as a pun.
YES!!!! Te pun in physically painful everytime I read it, I think the "minor" part is more than enough to convey the meaning, please let's change it ASAP
"...they seldom affect the plot in any way other than being a way to highlight some basic character motivation, or perhaps provide the origin of some Catch Phrase."
I think that sheds an unnecessarily negative light on this trope. There are number of examples on this page that prove that it's often not just a relatively meaningless intro. This trope can be used to show an event in the character's past that kicks the plot off or establish a character issue or motivation as being long-standing or long-developing, which can be favorable as a 'show, don't tell' story approach. A lot of stories start off with an event that happened in a character's past to show the audience why they are what they are. It's just that in this case, it may incidentally be a point in time when the characters are children.
Edited by Motmot
Removed:
- Titan A.E. begins with the destruction of earth and the launch of the titular Titan, then jumps into the future, where humans have become a minority, because so many were killed when the earth was destroyed
Because it's simply not this trope. If the movie does open with the main character as a child, someone please restore that example, but also make sure to actually mention that fact when you put it back.
this trope reminds me of Jesus in the Temple when he was 12. Older than Feudalism?
I'm not fond of this trope's name. Someone in the archived discussion suggested "A Minor Introduction". It's not perfect, but it's better.
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