I never thought of this in that way. That is screwed up. Any thoughts on how this trope ended up gaining such popularity?

I haaaaated the "Rey is a Palpatine" thing. HATED IT. I was actually really happy with the reveal that Rey was just some rando and to have it undermined pissed me off!

There seems to be this really hard to shake part of the human consciousness that wants to believe that somebody with special parents will be special, even though we've seen time and time again from historical evidence, that it's simply not true.

Oh I saw this on reddit a few days ago! Welcome to most of Tapas and Webtoons Library.

Naruto.

Just throw it on the burning pile of classism tales. It goes both ways and both suck.

Old school shounen anime is a big example. You get protagonists which are meant to be relatable young boys who get by with their hard work alone (to inspire you, ANYONE can become great!), only for you to find out way later that they're actually the descendant of someone special which explains why THEY are special. E.g. Naruto.

I don't read a lot of shounen now so I don't know if this has changed. But I do know that Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) actually subverts this in a fun way.

I don't really agree with the mindset of that comic. I think the reason why kids/teens are drawn to those kind of stories is because they like to imagine themselves as being special/super. It's self-insert and escapism, and kids/teens love that stuff because they might feel like a nobody IRL and they wish they could be more. I think Harry Potter starting out in the human world also sets up a "fish out of water" narrative that he learns about the wizarding world along with the audience.

As for Rey being a Palpatine, that is just bad writing. It sets up incest, because Kylo Ren's great grandpa is Palpatine. The dumb writers took no time to do any research into the lore of Star Wars and sort of decided to try to "throw out" the extended universe to do whatever they wanted. It also doesn't make any sense in the films (if ignoring the extended lore), it just feels like J. J. Abrams was not happy with the changes Rian Johnson make in the sequel film. And instead of working off of what Johnson wrote, like setting up the force kids and Rose, Abrams just threw that all out to focus on bad fan service. I think out of the three films The Last Jedi is the strongest because it is actually trying to develop something new instead of just recycling the old Star Wars.

Ichigo from Bleach is an annoying example because it really feels like a retcon. There's absolutely nothing even hinted in early issues that suggest Ichigo's specialness is due to anything more than a random chance encounter in his childhood, or that there's anything special about his dad. He's just a human who had a bad encounter with a hollow and developed spiritual powers and for whatever reason he has a lot of it... but then it's like "NOPE! He's actually inherited super-awesome powers due to being half-Shinigami!" Like....what?!?!

At least he had a dad.

An underdog who is actually descendant of a special person can still be interesting.
* An underdog of a known Special Family that has to be a little flexible on how they unlock their own potential.
* Underdogs who feel pressure of their own epic bloodline and the fear of not being able to live up to it.
It seems stories like to tie underdog-bait protags to bigger prophecies as a way of expanding their lore and story. To be honest, it's not the worst trope ever.

It's so prevalent because it's a cheap answer to the problem of "if it was possible for a plebeian to become a Special all along, why doesn't everyone (or at least a significant number of people) do it?" The answer, in this case, is "because he was a Special by birth", which reaffirms the inherent nature of the divide between Specials and everyone else even more - since someone raised by muggles can still be a Special, if their parents are Specials, it's a strong argument for the "nature" side of "nature vs nurture".
The absence of such an answer would blast a huge plothole in the internal logic of the world.
So the problem is not actually this trope in itself, but the whole concept of special abilities being innate and not, say, learned...
...the reason for which, in turn, is, as some people already noted, classism.

Well, regarding the example in the comic itself, I feel like the brand of underdog discussed in the comic still can be considered as baiting and disempowering without the need to insert a secret bloodline/prophecy/whatever. This is a problem that needs to be tackled for any kind of story where the powers of the world building depends heavily on inheritance or just decided by something out of the character's own control.

As the world established in the satire comic seems to imply that the possession of special abilities is an inmate and inherited thing, (the Special are bloodlines that inherit them). With the introduction of a regular person who possesses these powers out of random or a random encounter, it wouldn't really make any statement about how "anyone can be special", only a statement of "anyone can be special if you're just lucky enough or just naturally talented". Which isn't that much better of a message in my opinion. Not to mention, as arkin stated, any world building inconsistencies that might spawn from it. Not that I think that revealing some secret bloodline or whatever is usually a good trope to use to cover that problem, but it certainly is the easiest way.

But that doesn't mean that using this brand of world building of inherited powers will only lead to disempowering messages. You can establish a reveal later that there is a way for a regular person to receive powers and the protag was able to accidentally achieve it through their hard work and Never Giving Up(tm), or you could reveal that the world system is undergoing some big change which is also making those special powers more easily accessible to the regular person, protag was just one of the first ones. Or hell, maybe the protag doesn't get powers, but they can go toe-to-toe with those that do.

The nature of a regular person somehow receiving special powers out of pure randomness is underdog-baiting in itself. It doesn't make a reader think they can achieve it through their own capabilities, but that they just need to be lucky (which I guess is true to reality sometimes, but kind of a bummer when that's the main message in the story in my humble opinion).

Sounds like the plot line to a magical girl show. I feel like this happens often in stories like that. Like Winx Club and Sailor Moon.

Oh brah, YuYu Hakusho was like this! It started off where the MC was this normal teen who gained a special ability after dying, but after the 10,000,000th episode it was revealed that half his bloodline came from a special demon tribe or something. So he wasn't a normal teen after all. (It's been ages since I've see the anime, so I don't remember much.)

I've never really thought about the fake underdog thing like that. I've grown up seeing it as some kind of escapism, like "Your not some rando, you're a special person with special abilities, from a secret fancy background!". For kids who grew up in a shitty family, or in poverty, these type of stories can feel really nice. Although on one hand I can see some being disheartened or disillusioned, knowing something like that can't happen. I can't tell you how I felt about it as a kid, now as an adult I see it as kinda stupid, the almost comical coincidental nature if it can really donkey kick you out of a story, but I'm no longer the target audience.

Hey, this is me!

Something I found interesting about the response to this comic is that I made it without having any one story in mind, because it's a gripe I have with so many stories. But it received a lot of comments like, "This is obviously about X" with "X" being a wide variety of different stories, many of which I haven't even watched/read. Which I think really shows how prevalent this theme is in fiction.

As mentioned by others, this is something that exists (to varying degrees) in Star Wars, Harry Potter, Naruto, Bleach, and so on. Even Dragon Ball eventually got in on it. Goku just started off as some random monkey boy that Gohan found in the woods. In Z we find out he's actually descended from a race of super space warriors (the most standard among them, Raditz, still being more powerful than any Earthling). Eventually, we find out about Goku's biological father, Bardock, who is also the one saiyan who actually rebelled against Frieza, and with further specials dedicated to him, may be the original Super Saiyan (though non-canon) and just seems like (along with his wife) the one Saiyan who was actually a decent person.

May I ask what part you specifically "don't agree" with? I absolutely understand why these stories are written and why people enjoy them, I just don't think they're ultimately good messages to deliver. I generally have an aversion to stories where the protagonist relies on an external source of validation to affirm their value ("You actually do have value as a person because your ancestors were very valuable people!"). I also feel like this kind of worldbuilding creates a rigid class hierarchy that's completely dependent on familial connections. I have no problems with that sort of society existing within a story, but I don't like when the narrative supports its existence unquestionably.

I agree that the initial premise of Theophilia Wallace would still support a "born-with-it" message of empowerment, but that's only if the story stays on one level of subversion. Not that I'm disagreeing with anything more that you're saying, but my frustration with these kinds of stories is that when I start to notice "blood-based class structure" themes, I'm eagerly waiting for the story to subvert that theme in any way. In this sense, the little girl reading is my author avatar, "Oh! I know the story on the surface seems to support this unjust societal structure, but I'm sure that somehow Theophilia's character is going to be used to expose its flaws and upend their beliefs!"

Except more often than not, the story doesn't go in that direction. Society is correct that capability is an inborn trait, they were just wrong in determining what Theophilia's birthright was. Similarly, a lot of the stories that disappoint me in this regard have clues a lot earlier that this will probably be the theme, but I give too much benefit of the doubt and assume those are just misdirection.

Yeah, these are some ways this sort of narrative could subvert the "inherited powers" trope while delivering a message of empowerment that I find more to my tastes. Something like this is what I imagine the little girl reading is trying to predict in her mind. But she's going to be disappointed later on because she unfortunately expected the story to be more clever than it really was.

The only reason why I brought it up was that the child in the comic made this statement.

This seems less like what a kid would say and sort of reminds me of those parents who go to Common Sense Media or other sites to complain that girl from Turning Red is a bad influence on children and junk like that.

I don't hate the movie but if you think too hard about the core message, it's sort of messed up. I can also say the same about Lion King, I love the movie but it has sort of a weird message.

Incredibles is about society saying everyone is equal when the reality is you are not. There are better people than you and worst people than you, in many ways. Your worth as a human not withstanding, the message is to embrace what makes you better and don't let people say you are not. It's taken to the extreme because of course Dash is faster than you, he's super powered. But that is to drive the point home.

Regarding why this is pretty common in kids' media, well let's face it, kids like flashy stuff, it's why Elsa is statistically more popular than Anna despite Anna being the protag and also with the more proactive personality. I think most stories featuring this type of setting where people are separated into "special" and "normies" and where the protag was part of the "normie" group who gets the powers to become part of the "special" group aren't really trying to push a underdog narrative of "anyone can become special", as Nick says, it's more trying to be an escapist fantasy.

The "normies" becoming "special" is more just an escapist scenario of "what if one day you stopped living a boring life and became super special". This would usually be pushed further with "what if your parents weren't boring salarypeople and are also super special" later. Another common shonen trope is also just the fact that the protag possesses some super unique secret power that no one else has, that makes them more powerful than the other special people. Even though there are prominent "normie" heroes in popular media, actually think about how little kids stories out there where settings have the "special" and "normie" divide actually have a protagonist who is "normie" and can only achieve things through "normie" methods. Hell, a good chunk of those stories don't even have a "normie" character as part of the main cast.

Basically, the story isn't really trying to talk about underdogs or that the common people can become great, it's entertaining you with a power fantasy. Of course, because of this it's very easy to derive a problematic classist message from stuff like the secret bloodline trope, but if your story already has the tone of "people who have powers are just better than people who have no powers" and "people who have stronger powers than other people are just better and more important" then you're already pushing a bad message at that point. Inserting a bloodlines trope is just adding fuel to the fire

If you want an example of a story with a setting with a divide between people who have and don't have powers done well, I'd recommend Mob Psycho 100. I find it has a good message while also being grounded in reality. Yes, there are people who are better at a thing than others are, maybe they are naturals at it too, but that doesn't make them superior. Rather, everyone is good at their own thing and you shouldn't dismiss someone just because they aren't as smart/strong/whatever as you, because they probably excel at something you lack at and can support you while you can support them with what they lack at.

I'm not a fan of this trope either, especially if the story, when starting out, emphasized how underdog the MC was for not coming from a certain heritage or having certain powers. Or how hard work and determination overcomes heritage (ahem, NARUTO). But I do understand it's a form of escapism and we've all fantasized at some point in our lives "what if our family was secretly mega-rich?"

I'd actually say Harry Potter doesn't fit this trope because even from the get-go he was a special prophesized child and it was clear that him surviving Voldemort's killer juice squirt was very special. With Rey —... well, the whole trilogy is a mess

Long-running stories often come into this problem, I think. Especially in stories involving fighting powerful magical villains. Creators, in order to meet the rising power levels, end up giving their MC some magical heritage powers to be able to defeat the ever-more-powerful villains. The "nature vs nurture" issue is swept to the side, as "nature (heritage)" always wins in these stories.

Side ramble while I'm on this topic — I am a Kingdom Hearts fan. Sora, the MC, so far has the story of being a normal kid with a heart of gold, who gets his strength from friends and connecting with others.

Canonically Sora wasn't even the first choice for his Keyblade — his Keyblade was originally his friend Riku's before the Keyblade decided to change its owner. And the games repeatedly state that it's his kind heart and his friends that is the source of his power. Without his friends and that connection, he stumbles and falters.

Anyway, I'd hate it so much if later down the line, he was revealed to be a reincarnation of a god or something. Please let Sora stay a normal kid who got to where he is because of his kind heart and with the power of friendship Let his kind heart be his special thing, not some magical heritage.

I think it's probably also important to take note of the kind of lives that kids and teenagers tend to live when considering these stories... Because most kids and teenagers live in very constrained lives, and the "classist" society can probably be seen, through that lens, as an allegory for the parental oversight that dictates their lives. Like a story with a message "You can be anything you want to be, as long as you practice!" would mean nothing to a girl who wants to be a martial artist, but whose parents tell her that she's not allowed to enroll in a martial arts class because it's not for girls. But a story where even though she's "forbidden" from doing something, she manifests those powers anyways, society (and parents) be damned? That's a very nice fantasy. Especially when the secret "REAL" parents involved are super cool and bestowed her with those powers. It's like a direct middle finger to whatever they don't like about their parents (and lets be real, most teens have issues with their parents, even if their parents are good parents).

I can't stand this trope, easily one of my least favorite in sci fi, and especially in YA (at least when I was reading it during the 2010s). I think creators look at chosen one stories and forget part of their appeal is that it is an average person chosen for a great task, either through luck or some destiny, who then earns that title within the story via their heroic actions.

I've always found the concept of 'royal blood gives you magic powers' to be deplorable. As a guy who's against privatized ownership of the earth, I prefer to not throw the word 'fascist' around lightly, but when royalty puts you on a higher social standing AND gives you awesome magical powers that make you more superior to all the peasants, it's...kind of pro-fascism. Maybe that's why the dudes in suits approve so many of these concepts in children's stories.

I find the main 'underdog baiting' in modern shounen takes a different form:
The protagonist is actually the specialist ever, but nobody appreciates it because they're all Big Meanieheads Who Haven't Realized the True Power Of (an unusual weapon, whatever magic path, owning cool magical items)

I love guile heroes who make the most of what they're given, especially when society tells them that's useful, but Isekai especially is overflowing with arrogant, overpowered protagonists who get treated as the underdog because they
A) Got bullied for two chapters before becoming the Coolest, Strongest, Totally Not A Bully Just Putting Those Jerks In Their Place Through Righteous Cruelty
or
B) Everybody thought their power was lame for two chapters before it was revealed to be the Strongest Ever

I will always prefer or protagonist who makes their power strong not through Good Blood Eugenics or One Cool Loophole, but through constant creativity and determination